Investigators say shots fired at two locations involve same weapon

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Law enforcement officers search for evidence along the I-395 expressway adjacent to the Pentagon, on Oct. 19. Authorities now say that shots fired Oct. 18 at the National Museum of the Marine Corps in Triangle, Virginia, and on Oct. 19 the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, have been linked to the same firearm.

WASHINGTON — The same gun was used to shoot at the Pentagon and the National Museum of the Marine Corps in Northern Virginia earlier this month, the FBI said Tuesday.

A third military office — a Marine Corps recruiting station in Chantilly, Va., outside Washington — was shot at overnight Monday; Marines who work there discovered the shooting Tuesday morning, the FBI said. Investigators are conducting ballistics tests to determine whether the recruiting station shooting is related to the previous incidents.

Philip Seymour Hoffman withdrew a total of $1,200 from an ATM at a supermarket near his New York City apartment the night before he was found lifeless in his bathroom with a syringe still in his left arm, sources told NBC News.

Investigators haven't determined a motive or identified a suspect, said Lindsay Godwin, spokeswoman for the FBI's Washington field office.

Though all three shootings have targeted offices with links to the military, Godwin said the FBI has not issued any specific advisories or warnings to recruiting stations or other military buildings.

Early on Oct. 19 shots were fired overnight into two windows at the sprawling Defense Department across the Potomac River in suburban Virginia. Two days earlier, bullet holes were discovered in the windows at the National Museum of the Marine Corps in Triangle, Va., 30 miles south of the Pentagon.

Federal investigators were at the recruiting station in Chantilly Tuesday, "trying to link anything they can to what has already been proven," Godwin said.

The FBI declined to identify the type of weapon or ammunition used in the first two shootings in order to avoid compromising its investigation.

Marine Museum officials said that building had been hit by at least 10 rounds. Gwenn Adams, a museum spokeswoman, said last week that officials at the museum, which is associated with the Quantico Marine Base, did not receive any threats or warnings before the shooting.

On the morning of the Pentagon shooting security officers heard five to seven shots about 4:55 near the south parking lot. Bullet fragments were later found lodged in two windows of unoccupied offices on the third and fourth floor.

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The civilian Pentagon Force Protection Agency's director, Steven Calvery, said last week that the Pentagon shooting appeared to be "a random event" involving a high-velocity rifle.

On Tuesday, protection agency spokesman Chris Layman said that initial description was preliminary, though officials still don't believe there is a specific threat against the Pentagon.

"We are still trying to pursue as many leads as possible," Layman said, adding that he did not have any details on the type of gun used.

Virginia authorities in Fairfax and Prince William counties, along with the Pentagon police, joined in the investigation.

On the evening of March 4, a Hollister, Calif., man with a history of severe psychiatric problems opened fire at a Pentagon security checkpoint. John Patrick Bedell, 36, wounded two police officers before he was shot by police. Bedell died hours later.

are linked to the nation's military, with two out of the three related to the Marine Corps.

Video: FBI links weapon in Pentagon, other shootings

Closed captioning of: FBI links weapon in Pentagon, other shootings

>>>a break in the investigation of what could be a
shooting spree
which targeted the pentagon and the
marine corps museum
in virginia. the
fbi
linked those shootings to the same weapon. and they believe a third attack on a
marine corps
recruiting station could also be connected.
pete williams
is nbc's justice correspondent. what do you know, pete?

>> reporter: these shootings are about ten days apart. first at the museum, secondly at the pentagon two days later and this week at the recruiting station. now the
fbi
says the first two were hit by the same weapon. all three shootings, though, happened
early in the morning
, in two of the cases at the pentagon and the marine recruiting station, the shots were fired at parts of the building that were undergoing renovation and therefore were unoccupied. so at least the assumption hire among investigators is whoever is doing this is not trying to kill anyone or injure anyone because of the timing of the shots
early in the morning
when the buildings are unoccupied and because whether the shooter knew it or not, these offices that they hit, the recruiting station and this portion of the pentagon were undergoing renovation and were unoccupy the. now it may simply be that the targets are chosen the parts of the buildings are chosen because they're near highways. i-95 goes past the
marine corps museum
.
interstate 395
goes past the side of the pentagon that was hit. and a busy
state highway
, lehigh way, goes past the
marine corps
recruiting station in chantilly, virginia. all of them in the
washington area
, all of them within, you know, certainly easily an hour's drive from one another, but beyond saying that the two were linked and the assumption is that the third was linked as well, there is still no suspect here. the
fbi
is energetically going around, trying to find surveillance video and nearby locations. but so far no suspect.